Aestehtics "?": Are there any of you for whom visual art evokes as much an emotional reaction as musical art?

Question

Or is visual art necessarily more cerebral.
I can look at a Winslow Homer painting and imagine myself having fun or being serene in nature and all, but well-played patriotic music will give one goose bumps and pride. A little nocturne by Field or Chopin can induce true melancholy or aching nostalgia. Rachmaninov and Wieniawski can make people shed tears, and they may not even be able to explain "why." So, I am interested in hearing what you have to say. Is this just my aesthetic preference/prejudice? Are there people who cry or get feelings of patritiotism stirred up by paintings?

Answer 1

Editted:
(specifically the second to the last paragraph)

That is one beautiful question. I haven’t really a concrete answer. But here are a few thoughts.

I learned this line from the documentary 'Stolen': When you look at a Rembrant, you walk away a different person. That’s something not too different from the moment after hearing specific songs. I was seven years old when I first listened to Beethoven’s “Moonlight” sonata. It was like being born out of darkness and I was its child, true and stronger than I was before the moments I heard the song. Same also as Pachelbel’s, I have to confess. (Perhaps it’s a point of realization that the vastness of such power is just so grand and what are we compared to that?)

But there are also some paintings, sculptures or perhaps a view of the sunset or something about the fullness of the moon that are just so striking, you can /hear/ its music, it has the ability to greet you, pounce on you in one bound from across the room, with its own descant as unique as each paint chip, its DNA.

I was watching a movie the other week. There was a scene of this scenery of a lake and it was just so breathtaking. A friend of mine talked about it, sharing the same feeling. We were so moved by that single frame. Just that single frame, a fleeting second, and, we both agreed it was so I told her I was questioning the universe, where IS that place and why am I here and not there?

A very personal thought on Rachmaninov and Wieniawski and their ability to move people to tears: It was neither composer’s piece we were singing then but it was my first choral competition. I was one of the newest members then and when our very last rehearsal ended, all that emotion and adrenaline and meaning coming to a crescendo because we were about to walk unto the stage and sing out our battles, I cried. The choir sounded so different, so ready. I moved along with them different and we just knew.
A layer of inhibition was completely stripped off me. A musical molting, I think is what I’m going to call it from now on. A new part of me came out through those tears.

So are there people who cry or get feelings of patritiotism stirred up by paintings?
- I haven't any specific accounts but, of course, I can't rule them out. I've seen pieces that had made me gasped. Like the eyes were just so striking or the way the neck is so soft it just breaks the heart. Again, they have their music and I hear it. I'll tell you this, though, which I think is quite relevant to your question: Stendhal syndrome or Stendhal's syndrome is a psychosomatic illness that causes rapid heartbeat, dizziness, confusion and even hallucinations when an individual is exposed to art, usually when the art is particularly 'beautiful' or a large amount of art is in a single place. The term can also be used to describe a similar reaction to a surfeit of choice in other circumstances, e.g. when shopping. (http://www.answers.com/topic/stendhal-syndrome)
I hope you do visit the link. It's quite a read.

But I think I’m much more like you. I wouldn’t immediately decline a trip to a museum but I’m wooed easier by music. That was how I was brought up and that’s how quicker I respond. It could be just about preference.
Or perhaps, you are still yet to encounter that piece visual art that will pounce on you, and sing to you in its visual silence.

Answer 2

I have seen a number of different patterns of emotional response to various stimuli in different people. One friend of mine has intense emotional responses to smells, especially moldy odours. He will break out in a cold sweat when he enters a mouldy basement, then burst into tears. Another friend I know experiences intense pleasure (almost incapacitating) when he views the scenery from a mountaintop. Music is not popular with most of my friends, however, I am sure there are people out there for whom music is a grand stimulus for emotional response. I would not attribute these differences to any "cerebral" essence of the stimuli, rather to individual variation in previous experience. At a personal level, I am not sure if it is the martial music or the visual stimuli of the flags and marchers in a parade that trigger the feelings of patriotism I experience when I see a parade. Is it really possible to have patriotic feelings emerge from viewing a painting? Paintings don't do it for me. On the other hand, a news photo of servicemen in action will wring me dry. Perhaps some people are visually oriented, others more oriented to auditory or olfactory stimulation... Very interesting question.

Answer 3

i love art
i think the world could use more of it
but i agree visual art is static
a painting on the wall
just cant compete
with music which evolves in time
we live in a new age
full of computers and movies
multimedia cell phones and laptop computers
we grew up watching television
with fast camera cuts
shorter attention spans
the art of our new techno culture
is more robust than painting
it is more alive

nice to have a good question!

Answer 4

Aesthetics--For me, music inspires emotion, and art inspires thought and introspection. However, there are exceptions to every rule.

Answer 5

it can not , because mostly it does not target emotions but some time it evokes more emotions than music if subj is other than patriotism

Answer 6

Sometimes,,, Music can heal a man's soul...


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